Christian Bale Admits Heath Ledger Outshone His Batman

Actor Christian Bale feels his role as Batman in the Dark Knight trilogy was overshadowed by Heath Ledger's standout performance.

The 42-year-old actor played the Caped Crusader in The Dark Knight in 2008 and The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. The latter saw Heath Ledger portray The Joker, a role for which he won a posthumous Oscar, and Christian feels his own performance was nothing compares to Heath's depiction of the psychotic mastermind villain.

“Heath turned up and just kind of completely ruined all my plans,” Christian told Yahoo. “I went, ‘He’s so much more interesting than me and what I’m doing.'”

Christian, who is more known for playing the romantic lead, has proven his ability to play the bad-guy, winning a Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor for his role as sociopath Patrick Bateman 2000's American Psycho.

However, while it was his intention to show the more twisted side to Bruce Wane and his superhero alter-ego, Christian didn't quite live up to his own expectations.

“I didn’t quite manage what I hoped I would through the trilogy,” he admitted. “(Director Christopher Nolan) did, but my own sense of self is like, ‘I didn’t quite nail it.’ ”

“Batman, he’s this very, very dark, messed-up character. I found when I put on the suit I went, ‘I just feel like a bloody idiot if I don’t use this as a means to kind of (show) his true, monstrous self that he allows to come out in that moment.’ ”

It's Ben Affleck's turn to don the famous suit when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, hits our screens on March 25 (16).

And Christian insisted he is more than happy for Ben to take over in the role, as he will never again portray Batman on screen.